Kokkoku Episode 3 Review: The Third Moment

We’re back with another helping of the supernatural thriller, Kokkoku (Moment By Moment). The Yukawa’s must have worked a bit of their magic on this episode because the plot seems to have come to a screeching halt…

Japanese Original Episode Title: 㐧三刻

Plot

Juri attempts to retrieve the Stasis stone from her family home only to be captured by some cult members. While being tortured by the men, Juri unlocks a special power that could turn the tide for the Yukawas!

Episode Highlights

Latent ability: Juri is revealed to have a unique special ability that extends beyond the Yukawa Stasis spell powers and she goes ham on a room full of attackers! I wasn’t feeling Juri before, but that scene redeemed her a bit!

Taste Like Chicken: After exacting their vengeance, Handlers disappear leaving behind a sand-like residue. Rather than being horrified by this, one of the big bads scoops up some of the floating matter and shit you not, licks it… he then remarks that it tastes a bit like protein.

Realistic Backgrounds: The settings in this anime are gorgeous. Each location is rendered so realistically that you’d swear you were looking at the real thing rather than something that was animated. Unfortunately, the characters don’t always blend well with their surroundings.

Looks = Status: Okay, so this is just an observation, but all the attractive people within the Genuine Love Society seem to be in charge, while all the unsavory looking folks are little more than common thugs.

Themes & Trivia

Sacrifices must be made: The leader of the Genuine Love Society will do anything to see his dream realized, even if that means he has to sacrifice a few pawns in the process.

Childlike Wonder: When Juri’s nephew wakes up in the Stasis world rather than being frightened by all the frozen people, he thinks the whole thing is one big game. He openly plays with the frozen objects and people without a care in the world. Meanwhile, his uncle is still trying to wrap his mind around what’s happening.

Bland-Name Product: There are quite a few of these, but the one that stood out the most was the copy of Playman Magazine, an obvious reference to the long-running adult magazine Playboy. Heck, it even had a bunny girl on the front.

Even bad guys have standards: Shouko stops one of her associates from pursuing Juri unless he is capable of bringing her back without killing her. Now, whether she is doing this because of some hidden agenda or because she genuinely ‘cares’ for Juri has yet to be seen, but when everyone else in this anime is more than happy to throw their morals out the window, it’s nice to see someone with some common decency.

Comment

It’s been three episodes and I am still not sold on this one. Time is relative within the Stasis world and it’s hard to tell how much time is really passing in the show. Is it a few hours? Days? Weeks? This time dissonance undermines any sense of urgency or suspense, so I’m having a really hard time getting invested in any of the events that have taken place so far.

Like I said, the ‘comedic’ moments are really out of place and really detract from the overall tone of the story. Juri’s nephew and brother are utterly useless, so I really didn’t enjoy the parts of the story that focused primarily on them. In fact, I wouldn’t be too upset if they got kidnapped again, especially the kid, he’s a liability… Honestly, I’d much rather spend more time with the bad guys since they are way more interesting than the ‘protagonists.’

These twists and turns of fate

So far, I am not impressed with this Kokkoku. Don’t get me wrong, there are some rather interesting elements here and there, but as a whole, I just don’t see things coming together. Maybe things will become clearer the further we get into the series, but for now, I’m still on the fence.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Kokkoku? Did you think Episode 3 was better or worse? Let us know in the comment section below! And don’t forget to check the rest of the Winter 2018 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO!